Russia and Switzerland discussed the revision of the tax agreement
Finance Ministers of Russia and Switzerland Anton Siluanov and Uli Maure discussed the possibility of revising the agreement between the countries on the avoidance of double taxation in terms of increasing the source tax to 15% in respect of dividends and interest. This was reported by the press service of the Russian department.
“During the meeting, it was concluded that Russia’s proposals to increase tax rates within the framework of the current international taxation in reforming global tax rules were developed at the OECD and G20 sites. The minister recognizes that Russia is also, – the message says.
The ministers will continue to discuss this issue at their next meeting. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that income in the form of dividends and interest received on the territory of the country should not go abroad at a low tax rate or without paying it at all.
In September, the Ministry of Finance announced that it had sent a letter with a proposal to amend the agreement on the avoidance of double taxation. In response to this, Bern announced the possibility of starting negotiations in October.
In May, Russia tore up a tax treaty with the Netherlands after that country refused to raise tax rates on dividends and interest. Prior to that, the Ministry of Finance agreed to raise taxes with Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta. Conditions common to all countries: an increase in tax rates on dividends and interest up to 15%. There are exceptions where the tax rate is 5%.
Russia is canceling tax breaks that make it more profitable to withdraw capital to replenish the budget. As a result, agreements with countries are being revised, where conditions allow reducing the dividend rates from the standard 15% to 5% or 10%, as well as the interest on loans from 20% to 0%. In general, the Ministry of Finance expects to receive about 150 billion rubles from the revision of the DTT with “transit countries”. additional income per year.